Going solo to Finnmark

To be prepared for the South Pole I knew I had to go for a solo trip and decided on the white plains of Finnmarksvidda in Norway. I had never been to this vidda before, even if it´s not far from Tromsö where I live. I was really looking forward to this trip, but when I finally was going to leave I had so many other things that I needed to do. I was stressed about the sponsor chase, the e-mail writing and phoncalls to be made. So Finnmarksvidda felt more like a thing to tick off the list. I was not as excited as I had hoped when I started to pack some new equipment and old gear, in the end of February. A lot of stuff had not been used since my sister and I where on the icecap of Greenland two years earlier. Packed, stressed and ready I took a flight to Lakselv in the north and a friend drove me out into the middle of nowhere. When I jumped out of the car the thermometer showed minus 28 degrees.

I wrote this in my diary after my first day.”Brr, I am in my tent and I am sure the temperature is at least minus 30. I just discovered that the thermometer only goes down to minus 20. Alright, so I am alone, exciting, or? The stars are fantastic here though! I am trying to melt my lens solution into fluid, so I can take my lenses off and go to sleep. I hope I won’t freeze tonight.”

Everything felt fresh in the start. And it felt weird to be alone. Should I spend over a million Swedish crowns (100 000 Euro) to do this?! To just walk around on skis, pulling a pulk for days? Not only a few days, I will be doing it for two months! Really? Is it too late to pull out?

After a few days I started to recognize the good old feeling about being out. I started to feel calm and I could let my thoughts wander. The sun was shining and Finnmarksvidda was so beautiful. The routines started to get settled and I enjoyed the nature and the simple life. During all my longer trips I have always experienced that I don’t enjoy the start as much as I do a few days in or maybe weeks into the trip. I think that is good to have in mind when I start my long trip in Antarctica.

After this winter week at Finnmarksvidda with strong sun, low temperature, snowfall, whiteout, hard winds and no winds I felt relaxed. I was just calm and happy. Before the trip I had so much going on and felt stressed not to be able to answer emails and call people. Now I have had time to think things through and more importantly if I really wanted to ski to the South Pole at all, and alone. Thoughts takes time like my dad always says. If someone had asked me if I wanted to ski to the South Pole one of the first days of my training trip I am not sure what the answer would have been. But after a week at Finnmarksvidda I am completly sure what I want. I want to pull a heavy pulka every day for two months, slightly uphill and with headwinds, towards 90 degrees south!

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One thought on “Going solo to Finnmark”

HI it’s very interesting reading your blog with your prepartions and challenges for Antarctica. Good luck with hunting the sponsors. You might like this film for even more motivation for your expedition 🙂